How do chameleons change their colours?

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Ever seen the chameleons changing their colours and wondered that why do chameleons change their colours? Do they have magic or something like that?

Let's know,

Firstly, chameleons don't change their colour due to camouflage. Instead they change colour to regulate their body temperature and express their mood with other chameleons.

The skin of chameleons has various colored pigments such as yellow, red, etc. There are nano crystals of various sizes and shapes, below the pigment. The spacing between this nano crystals is primarily responsible  for it's color change.

These nano crystals are close to each other, when the chameleons are relaxed. At this time, when light composed of various colours fall on the crystals they reflect colours like blue, indigo, etc. This blur colour along with the yellow colour reflected by the pigment make chameleons appear green.

However, when chameleons are excited, the spacing between the nano crystals increases. In this case, they reflect colours like red, orange, etc. When this red colour get combined with the yellow colour reflected by the pigment, make the chameleons appear orange.

This is reason, why the chameleons change their colour.


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